Kieran Dowell pretty much came from nowhere to feature in Sunday’s Old Firm derby and his appearance in the press conference for the trip to Dundee suggests that he has a future at Rangers.
Gers boss Philippe Clement likes players who are brave in possess and the former England youth cap demonstrated at Ibrox that he is comfortable playing forward passes and driving out of defence with the ball.
This might be good news for Dowell, however, this now means that the future looks bleak for a player who has been rarely seen in a Rangers shirt under Philippe Clement.
Does Nicolas Raskin have a future at Rangers?
Speaking ahead of the rearranged league clash with Dundee, Clement was far from convincing when asked of Nicolas Raskin would be still be part of his plans:
“Maybe they’ll (Nicolas Raskin and Kemar Roofe) be in the squad tomorrow. That depends on positions, how the opponent is, how we are, the form they show in training.
“I don’t have anything to say about that, it’s not that they’re not performing but there’s a lot of competition.
“This is Rangers and this is what we want, to have competition for spots and that everybody needs to fight for their spots to be in the team or on the bench.”
The Belgian Under-21 international has been almost a total write-off this season and Clement clearly wants him to do more in training and when he gets a chance to impress.
The 23-year old’s form was non existent before his first injury of the season and he simply hasn’t recovered.
The bizarre thing is, statistically, Raskin is one of the best in the league and outperforms John Lundstram in terms of passing and ball progression.
Mohamed Diomande arrived in January with an obligation to buy of £4.3m and he has instantly jumped Raskin in the queue for minutes.
Why Raskin has fallen down the pecking order
With Dowell, Tom Lawrence, Todd Cantwell and Dujon Sterling ahead of him now, what does the future hold for the 23-year old?
There could be as many as 10 players leaving Ibrox in the summer and for all that Nicolas Raskin might seem like someone Clement would want to keep, the current situation suggests that he might not be.
It would be unfair to suggest that Raskin isn’t a good player but it doesn’t look good when he can’t even get in the squad on a matchday.
Roofe has an excuse, however, that his is the type of game that Raskin should be running and outing his mark on not sitting in the stand watching with his shirt and tie on.
